This invention relates to binding mounting methods and apparatus, such as those used for snowboards, skis, snowshoes and other devices.
During riding, a snowboard rider""s foot is typically secured to the snowboard by a binding. The binding may be mounted to the snowboard in a variety of different ways, but typically is mounted using bolts or screws that engage with threaded metallic inserts that are fixed within the snowboard. Although different insert patterns have been proposed, inserts are usually fixed in snowboards in one of two different pattern types.
One type of pattern, commonly called a 4xc3x974 (xe2x80x9cfour-by-fourxe2x80x9d) pattern, includes inserts fixed in the snowboard along two longitudinal lines parallel to the longitudinal, or tip-to-tail, direction of the board. The inserts form one or more square patterns of inserts, with inserts located at the corners of each square pattern. A binding may be attached to the snowboard using a hold-down disk (discussed below) having four holes arranged to match one of the square patterns of inserts. Once the four holes in the hold down disk are aligned with one of the square patterns of inserts, screws may be inserted through the holes, engaged with the inserts and tightened to secure the disk and the binding to the snowboard. The binding may be adjusted in position along the tip-to-tail direction by reattaching the disk to the snowboard using a different square pattern of inserts.
A second insert pattern, commonly called the 3D(copyright) hole pattern, is provided on snowboards from Burton Snowboards and includes inserts arranged to form a plurality of equilateral triangle patterns. Each equilateral triangle pattern has inserts located at the vertices of the triangle and has one side parallel to a lateral direction, or edge-to-edge direction, on the board. A binding may be secured to a snowboard using a hold down disk that has three holes at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. The holes may be aligned with one of the triangular patterns of inserts, and screws may be inserted through the holes to secure the disk to the snowboard. An example of the 3D(copyright) pattern is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,689 to Carpenter et al.
Inserts in a snowboard may increase the weight and cost of the snowboard, while decreasing the strength of the board. For example, an insert may weigh more than the portion of the board that is replaced by the insert, and/or the board may require reinforcement, e.g., additional fiberglass and/or a stronger core material, in the vicinity of each insert to prevent board failure or insert pull-out. Therefore, minimizing the number of inserts in a snowboard while maintaining a same or improved range of binding adjustment (i.e., a total length along the board over which a binding may be mounted) and increment of adjustment (i.e., distance between adjacent mounting positions) is generally desirable.
In one illustrative embodiment in accordance with the invention, a majority of attachment features on a board may be arranged along one row generally extending in the tip-to-tail direction of the board. For example, the board may have all or substantially all inserts used to mount a binding to the board arranged along a single row parallel to the board centerline. Binding mounting positions may be provided by patterns of two or three attachment features. For example, all of the attachment features may be arranged along one row and binding mounting positions provided by pairs or other groups of features in the row. Alternately, attachment features may be arranged along two rows, with a majority of the features arranged in one of the rows. Binding mounting positions may be provided by triangular patterns of features, e.g., two features in one row and a third in the other row. Thus, the number of attachment features needed for a given number of binding mounting positions may be reduced and/or the number of binding mounting positions provided by a given number of attachment features may be increased compared to other attachment feature arrangements. In addition, concentrating attachment features along one row may allow reinforcement of the board intended to prevent feature pull-out or other detachment to be concentrated along a more narrow portion of the board, potentially decreasing the weight and/or cost of the board.
In another illustrative embodiment of the invention, attachment features are arranged on a gliding board along a longitudinal row to form a plurality of linear mounting patterns for a binding. Each mounting pattern is formed by two attachment features on the longitudinal row. The attachment features may be equally spaced from each other, e.g., at 25 mm increments, and arranged along or near the board longitudinal centerline.
In another aspect of the invention, a method of attaching a binding to a snowboard includes providing a snowboard having a plurality of attachment features fixed in a row in the snowboard, and providing a hold down disk having two openings adapted to cooperate with pairs of the attachment features. The hold down disk is attached to the snowboard using only a pair of the attachment features, and/or using only attachment features that lie along the row. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cprovidingxe2x80x9d is intended to include any manner of obtaining, using, handling, or otherwise securing possession of an object whether through purchase, loan, manufacture, etc. Thus, for example, a technician hired or otherwise employed to attach a binding to a snowboard xe2x80x9cprovidesxe2x80x9d the snowboard and binding as the term is used herein even though the snowboard and binding may have been manufactured by and/or is owned by a person or entity other than the technician.
In another aspect of the invention, an apparatus includes a gliding board, such as a snowboard having a tip and a tail, metal edges and a base suitable for gliding on a snow surface, and at least three attachment features to attach a binding to the snowboard. The attachment features may be arranged in at least one attachment feature pattern and along at least one row on the snowboard, the at least one row extending in the tip-to-tail direction of the snowboard. The apparatus may also include a snowboard binding hold down disk having a tip-to-tail axis adapted to extend in a tip-to-tail direction on the snowboard when the hold down disk is mounted to the snowboard. The hold down disk may have openings adapted to cooperate with an attachment feature pattern including no more than three attachment features arranged on the snowboard in no more than one or two rows to mount the hold down disk to the snowboard.
In another illustrative embodiment in accordance with an aspect of the invention, the centers of attachment features that provide a plurality of binding mounting positions are located within a rectangular area on the board having a width of no more than 38 mm. In another aspect of the invention, the centers of the attachment features may be located within no more than 19 mm of the gliding board centerline. In one illustrative embodiment in accordance with these aspects of the invention, the attachment features may be arranged along two longitudinal rows that extend within 19 mm of the board centerline. In another illustrative embodiment, the attachment features may be arranged along a single row that is parallel to the board centerline.
In another aspect of the invention, a gliding board includes a plurality of attachment features arranged in a plurality of patterns to provide at least three adjacent binding mounting positions. The attachment features are arranged so that when a hold down disk is mounted to the board using one of the attachment feature patterns, no more than three attachment features are covered by the hold down disk. In another aspect of the invention, exactly three attachment feature are covered by the disk. This feature can be provided by attachment feature patterns including two or three features and by arrangements of attachment features along one or two rows. This is in contrast to a conventional 3D or 4xc3x974 pattern that provides three or more adjacent mounting positions and has four inserts covered by a hold down disk when the disk is mounted to the board.
In another aspect of the invention, a snowboard having a tip, a tail and metal edges may have a plurality of attachment features fixed to the snowboard and adapted to cooperate with a hold down disk to attach a binding to the snowboard. The plurality of attachment features may be arranged on the snowboard to provide at least three binding mounting positions for the hold down disk on the snowboard including a first mounting position, a second mounting position adjacent the first mounting position, and a third mounting position adjacent the second mounting position, wherein the first and third mounting positions share one attachment feature.
In another aspect of the invention, a gliding board, such as a snowboard, includes a plurality of attachment features to attach a binding to the board. The attachment features are arranged on the board to form at least three adjacent binding mounting positions. The binding mounting positions are provided by patterns of attachment features such that only one attachment feature from attachment feature patterns for each of any two adjacent binding mounting positions is not shared.
One illustrative embodiment in accordance with the invention includes a gliding board having a tip and a tail, and a plurality of attachment features to attach a binding to the gliding board. The attachment features are arranged along first and second rows extending in the tip to tail direction of the gliding board so that a first attachment feature in the first row, a second attachment feature in the second row, and a third attachment feature in the first row are at the vertices of at least one equilateral triangle. This triangular pattern of attachment features may be used to attach the binding, such as a strap-type foot binding, to the gliding board.
In another illustrative embodiment, attachment features are arranged on a gliding board having a tip and a tail and a tip-to-tail direction extending therebetween. The attachment features are evenly spaced only along first and second rows that generally extend in the tip to tail direction of the gliding board. The first and second rows are longitudinally offset so that no attachment feature in the first row lies on a same lateral line, perpendicular to the rows, as an attachment feature in the second row.
In another illustrative embodiment, attachment features to attach a binding to the gliding board are arranged on the gliding board to provide at least two binding mounting positions spaced apart along the length of the board. The increment of adjustment along the length of the board between the two binding mounting positions is less than a minimum distance between any two of the plurality of attachment features that provide the at least two binding mounting positions.
In another illustrative embodiment, attachment features to attach a binding to the gliding board are arranged so that at least one of the plurality of attachment features is equally spaced from four adjacent attachment features.
In another illustrative embodiment, attachment features to attach a binding to the gliding board are arranged to form at least one non-right triangular pattern of adjacent attachment features. The at least one non-right triangular pattern provides a binding mounting position, and each attachment feature is positioned at a vertex of the at least one non-right triangle. One leg of the non-right triangle extends substantially parallel to a tip-to-tail direction on the gliding board.
In another illustrative embodiment, attachment features are arranged on the gliding board to form at least one equilateral triangular pattern of attachment features that provides a binding mounting position and has no leg parallel to an edge-to-edge direction on the gliding board.
In another illustrative embodiment, attachment features are arranged on the gliding board to form a plurality of adjacent binding mounting patterns each having a center. In this embodiment, the centers of adjacent binding mounting patterns are offset on alternate sides of a line extending in a tip-to-tail direction on the board.
In another illustrative embodiment, attachment features are arranged on a snowboard along first and second longitudinal rows to form a plurality of equilateral triangular patterns of attachment features. The first and second longitudinal rows are parallel to a tip-to-tail direction on the snowboard, and each equilateral triangular pattern provides a binding mounting position formed by a first attachment feature on one of the first and second rows and second and third attachment features adjacent the first attachment feature on the other of the first and second rows. A pair of snowboard bindings are attached to the snowboard with each binding attached to the snowboard via one of the plurality of equilateral triangular patterns of attachment features.
In another aspect of the invention, the number of binding mounting positions that is provided by plurality of attachment features on a board is equal to two less than the number of attachment features. For example, if a set of attachment features that provide a plurality of binding mounting positions has a total of five attachment features, the set of attachment features may provide three binding mounting positions (5 featuresxe2x88x922=3 mounting positions). Such a relationship between the number of attachment features and the number of binding mounting positions may be present in attachment feature patterns that include two or three attachment features and in which attachment features are arranged along one or two rows. This is in contrast to 4xc3x974 patterns, e.g., a 4xc3x974 pattern that provides three binding mounting positions includes six attachment features, and 3D patterns, e.g., a 3D pattern that provides three binding mounting positions includes at least six and likely seven attachment features.
A snowboard binding hold down disk in accordance with the invention has a center and a tip-to-tail axis adapted to extend in a tip-to-tail direction on a snowboard when the hold down disk is mounted to the snowboard. The hold down disk has at least three openings that form a triangle and are adapted to cooperate with attachment features arranged on the snowboard. The at least three openings are arranged so that no leg of the triangle is perpendicular to the tip-to-tail axis.
In another illustrative embodiment, a snowboard binding hold down disk has at least three openings that form a triangle and are adapted to cooperate with attachment features arranged on the snowboard. The at least three openings are arranged in the disk so that a leg extending parallel to the tip-to-tail axis is as long as any other leg of the triangle.
In another illustrative embodiment, a snowboard binding hold down disk has at least three openings that form an equilateral triangle and are adapted to cooperate with attachment features arranged on the snowboard. The equilateral triangle has a leg that is parallel to the tip-to-tail axis.
In another illustrative embodiment, a snowboard binding hold down disk has at least three openings that form at least one triangle and are adapted to cooperate with attachment features arranged on the snowboard. The at least one triangle includes at least one central triangle, and the center of the at least one central triangle is offset from the center of the hold down disk.